Saudi to establish cybersecurity institute

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman yesterday issued a royal decree to establish a new institute for the Global Cybersecurity Forum (GCF) in Riyadh, the Saudi Gazette reported.

The Royal Decree stipulated that the GCF Institute must be financially and administratively independent, non-profit, as well as having full capacity to achieve its goals and manage its affairs under the supervision of its own Board of Trustees.

State-run Saudi news agency (SPA) said the Saudi experience in cybersecurity has achieved several gains locally, regionally and globally, becoming a successful and pioneering model that is recognised internationally.

According to SPA, the kingdom ranked second in the world in the cybersecurity index, according to the United Nations, as well as in the annual report on global competitiveness for the year 2022.

Saudi Arabia has a national authority specialised in cybersecurity, which holds regular exhibitions with government agencies to raise awareness.

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